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Vice Blog

HELSINKI - WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH KAUHAJOKI?

The big story yesterday, before it got overshadowed by the fact that the Treasury is about to sell the next generation down the river, was this balding dickhead who shot up his school in Kauhajoki, Finland. In case you've forgotten, it was a bad deal, there was a bunch of crap on youtube leading up to it, and it's Finland's second major school shooting in as many years. We were kinda going on the impression that everything over in Scandinavia was one big socialized, middle-class smile party (give or take the odd church burning), so we asked our Finnish music editor Sanna what the H is going on with his country.

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I come from what they call the "Texas of Finland," real close to where the latest shooting happened in the southwest of the country. Since the civil war ended back in 1918, it's been a base for right-wing types (my grandfather fought with the Nazis in WWII). It's also really common for teenagers from one town to drive their families' tractors (you can get your tractor license when you're 15, versus 18 for a car) over to the next town to fight their teens with baseball bats. I did that a lot when I was young.

There was a big national discussion about 6 or 7 years ago about the fact that all the young people were moving to cities like Helsinki and Turku and Tampere, and the rest of the country was just getting older and sicker. Whenever I visit Vähäkyrö where I grew up (an hour up the road from Kauhajoki), all I can notice is how insanely depressed/depressing it's become. It's not a matter of unemployment either, there are plenty of jobs, just nobody to fill them.

A bunch of people have guns in the region, but that's no different from the rest of the country. There are probably as many guns in Finland as there are cars. Somehow I've made it through my life without ever seeing or handling a gun, but they're always around. The thing is, there is no no national debate or conversation about gun ownership/control in Finland, and never has been. You can bet it's coming now though.

The reason it hasn't been a real issue is people don't buy guns for the same reason they often do in the States, to protect themselves from other individuals. Finnish guns are mostly rifles and shotguns and, as you can guess, most of them are used for hunting. A lot of them are also used by men for shooting their wives and kids and then themselves. This is basically the national pastime in the north of the country.

Finns have a reputation for not really talking about their feelings, especially the men. Back in the early 90s Finland led the Western world in suicide rates (our male rate was more than twice Japan's. Japan!). It's tapered off a little since and we've been surpassed by all the ex-Soviet states, but it's still up there. There's also a history in Finland of open admiration for the US; I think we're probably one of the most "Americanized" countries in Europe, if not the world. Anyways, I think all this plays into what happened this week--kids like this crazy shooter feel like they've got no future where they're from, so they decide the best way to deal with it is to make their own Columbine massacre.

SANNA-MAIJA HANNUKSELA